


Homecoming

by DaemonMeg



Series: A Hint of Jasmine [1]
Category: My Engineer (TV)
Genre: Botany, Insecurity, M/M, Nervousness, post-Season 1
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-01
Updated: 2020-06-01
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:35:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24482893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DaemonMeg/pseuds/DaemonMeg
Summary: King returns home to find his houseguest hasn't left. Now he has to face what was set in motion at the camp.
Relationships: King/Ram (My Engineer)
Series: A Hint of Jasmine [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1776655
Comments: 26
Kudos: 361





	Homecoming

King's steps slowed as he approached the door to his condo. He took a deep breath and entered his pin in the keypad, shouldering open the door. He toed off his shoes, left them next to the shoe cabinet, and slung his tote onto the hook on the hall. The lights were on, and he could hear Ram's dogs jostling behind the door of the extra room, but the other man didn't come out to greet him. 

_Okay. He's avoiding me._ King hadn’t replied to the text message and now two weeks had passed while he stayed at his grandmother’s house.

In the kitchen, King dropped his overnight bag on the table and noticed Ram’s phone out and on. He knew he shouldn’t, but curiosity drove him to pick it up. The webpage clearly displayed _Pitcher Plants: A Beginner’s Guide to Nepenthes Care._ He heard the balcony door open, and he spun around.

Ram was emerging from the balcony with a watering can in one hand and a spray bottle in the other. He used his elbow to turn the door handle while he balanced a shop towel on one bare shoulder. Ram was wearing that black A-line tee, the same one he’d worn when King woke up after getting stitches. 

King felt his mouth go dry.

Ram stopped in his tracks when he saw King by the table. He met his eyes and gave a quick nod before pushing the door shut with one foot.

King backed up a step when Ram came to the table to set down the watering can and bottle. Belatedly he realized he was still holding Ram’s phone and he set it back on the surface with a quick movement. He felt his cheeks flush with embarrassment for looking through his phone.

Ram straightened up and grabbed the shop towel from his shoulder to wipe the soil from his hands. His fingernails were caked in dirt and the wrinkles on the backs of his knuckles were outlined in black earth. Ram’s hair looked like he had just rolled out of bed ten minutes ago, hanging low over his eyebrows.

 _Shit._ King could smell the plants on Ram and his heart began to beat faster. “Cool Boy, I…” His sentence drifted off while he stared at Ram, forgetting whatever he should be saying before regaining his composure. “Thank you for looking after them.” This was _not_ what he had practiced saying on his ride back.

Ram nodded again and didn’t break his gaze until the whining from the dogs in the next room hit a crescendo, punctuated by the sound of claws on the door panels. He dropped the towel and slid down the hall to pick up the leashes before slipping the dogs in their halters and out the door of the condo.

By the time Ram returned, King had unpacked and showered, his hair still hanging wet in his eyes. He sat nervously in the corner of the living room by the small terrarium holding his _Bladderwort Utricularia_ import. It had bloomed while they were at camp. There was a little container of store-bought amphipods by the terrarium. 

King wasn’t the one who had bought it.

Ram took the dogs to the other room and fetched a large stainless steel mixing bowl from the kitchen to fill with water for them. King listened to him murmur to the dogs in a low voice while filling it in the other room. The tags on their collars jingled in puppy glee with the attention of their favorite person.

King pulled out his phone and nervously punched out a reply on his phone two days late. “ _Are you angry?”_ He heard the text message alert go off in the next room.

 _“No,”_ came the reply. _“Are you okay…”, Ram added._

King didn’t answer right away and Ram quietly came out of the dogs’ room and looked at him for a long time before walking over to join him in the living room. Ram sat diagonal from King on the chair across from the sofa. He felt the man did it intentionally - not sitting next to him nor across from him. Space to breathe, space to avoid his eyes, space to look up and meet his gaze. Ram was always doing things like this. It drove him crazy with how thoughtful the quiet man was towards him all the time.

King bent back to his phone and quickly typed. “ _I thought you wouldn’t be here when I got back.”_

A heartbeat passed and his phone flashed a reply.

_“I want to stay if it’s alright.”_

_Shit._ King forgot about Ram’s dad. Of _course,_ he wanted to stay. _“You can stay. I’ll move back home until you figure out the situation with your dad,”_ he texted back.

Silence prompted him to look up and he caught the hurt look on Ram’s face. Hurriedly, King said out loud, “Listen, I’m really sorry I brought up your dad again. I keep messing up.”

Ram reached across the coffee table and caught King’s wrist. “P’King, I said I wasn’t drunk that night.”

King’s mouth dropped open when he heard Ram speak and his breath caught in his throat. He glanced down and was embarrassed to see his other hand tremble where it lay on his knee. _That night._ Ram wasn’t drunk that night. Ram wasn’t angry with him now. Ram wanted to stay in the condo with him. He looked back up and met Ram’s eyes. Those fucking beautiful eyes. “You took care of my plants.” What was _wrong_ with him? What a stupid thing to say.

“They’re important to me,” Ram said, one corner of his mouth turned up.

 _Shit_. All King could think about suddenly was the way Ram’s fingers felt on his wrist and how it reminded him of the way Ram’s fingers felt on his face when they kissed. And the way Ram tasted when he had kissed him back. 

“Cool Boy,” he whispered. And Ram closed the gap between them.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I haven't written anything in TWO YEARS but these two made me jump back into fic. I can't wait for season 2!


End file.
